Harley-Davidson Recalls More Than 2.3 Lakh Bikes Worldwide

Harley-Davidson has ordered a massive recall on 2,38,300 motorcycles worldwide for a clutch problem, and it's the fourth recall for a clutch issue in the past five years. According to Harley-Davidson, the recall will cost about $35 million, although the cost of the recall will not be borne by Harley-Davidson entirely, as the issue arose with a third-party supplied component. The voluntary safety recall includes all model-year 2017 and 2018 Touring, Trike and CVO Touring models, as well as some 2017 Softail models.

A few models in Harley-Davidson's Softail range are also reportedly affected, although the models affected by the clutch issue are of the 2017 lot, and not the 2018 Fat Bob pictured above

Harley-Davidson announced the recall during a conference call with investors last week, amid a global sales slowdown. Recently, Harley-Davidson announce several new models, including an all-new electric model line, and a completely new, small displacement model for Asia and emerging markets which will be introduced by 2022. But the latest recall seem to have hit the iconic American motorcycle brand's image once more on quality concerns.

"We, along with our dealers, are committed to addressing this issue. The safety of our riders is our highest priority," Harley-Davidson's Chief Financial Officer John Olin said during a conference call with analysts.

The Harley-Davidson Road Glide is one of the Touring models, although it isn't clear if any bikes sold in India are affected by the recall

Over the past few years, Harley-Davidson had issued several such recalls for clutch issues. In 2016, a recall on another clutch issue covered 27,232 bikes across 14 different models. That recall followed another recall in 2015 of 45,901 bikes, also for clutch issues, and in 2013, there was a recall of 29.046 bikes over yet another clutch issue. The earlier recalls were all due to an issue where the master cylinder lost its ability to disengage the clutch.

The affected bikes are expected to be spread across Harley-Davidson's overseas markets as well, including Europe, one of Harley's biggest export regions. A query to a representative of Harley-Davidson India by Carandbike remains unanswered whether any bikes sold in India will be among the affected models. In any case, the fully-imported Touring and CVO Touring models constitute a very small percentage of Harley-Davidson India's sales, but the Softail range is quite popular, next only to the highest-selling Street range in India.